Army foils coup bid in Sao Tome
LIBREVILLE: The military has foiled a coup attempt in Sao Tome and Principe, the prime minister of the island nation off the western coast of Africa said in a video message confirmed by AFP on Friday.
Four men, including the former president of the outgoing National Assembly Delfim Neves, tried to attack army headquarters overnight, Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada said in a video message confirmed by the justice minister.
He said Neves was one of several people arrested.
A resident speaking to AFP anonymously by phone said she had heard “automatic and heavy weapons fire, as well as explosions, for two hours inside the army headquarters” in the nation’s capital.
In the video message, authenticated and sent to AFP by the press office of Sao Tome’s prime minister, Trovoada is seen sitting at a desk saying he wants to “reassure” the population and “the international community”.
“There was an attempted coup d’etat which began around 00:40 am and... ended shortly after 6 am,” he said, adding that “armed forces were attacked in a barracks.”
“The situation in the barracks is under control, but we must be sure that the country is completely under control,” Trovoada said.
He said a soldier had been “taken hostage” and wounded but “would be able to resume his activities in a few days”.
Military personnel were deployed overnight to secure the homes of members of the government and the president, according to the resident who spoke to AFP.
She added that the city was now calm: “People are going about their normal business but schools have asked parents not to send their children.”
Trovoada said: “The operation was ordered by certain personalities from the country in complicity with certain others from within the army.
“The four attackers have been arrested and have denounced certain others, including Delfim Neves and Arlecio Costa.”
Costa is a former Santomean mercenary connected with South Africa’s Buffalo Battalion security group, which was dismantled by Pretoria in 1993. He was also arrested and accused of leading a coup bid in Sao Tome in 2009.